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Platforms and Pageantry: Miss Social Media 2013

Confession: Miss Congeniality is one of my favorite movies. Still, I found myself surprisingly excited watching Erin Brady be crowned Miss USA 2013 last Tuesday in Las Vegas. Apparently I am not alone; as the spectacle, the swimsuit competition, judge Betsey Johnson, the inevitable “is this good for society” beauty pageant debates and press obsession with poorly answered questions has led Miss USA to continue to pop up on my Twitter feeds days later. The pageant also led to a very Carrie Bradshaw question; if social media platforms were beauty pageant contestants, who would be crowned Miss Social Media 2013? Indulge me, won’t you?

“Miss Understood” – Twitter

Her Style

She’s incredibly informed and knows what’s happening on the news, in her industry and brand profiles. She knows that time and concise, impactful tweets are money, building connections, driving relationships and curiosity to learn more.

Her Strategy

Short-message communication, sharing meaningful content through sentence fragments and disconnected messages. She can summarize her brand’s message in succinct sound bites, respond tough questions from the media, and provide helpful information all in 140 characters or less. Always mindful that anything she tweets should have maximum input, she uses tools like Hootsuite’s auto-scheduler to ensure her messages are most likely to reach her community.

Her mantra is “sharing is caring” whether it’s a link to a timely blog post, breaking news, hilarious video or interesting factoid. Her power lies in connecting members of her community to a variety of resources and inspiration while maintaining a fun, accessible personality. Most importantly, she’s humble when it comes to showing her appreciation and support, incorporating tweets, @Reply, mentions, direct mentions (DM), and retweets (RT) into her twitter toolbox.

Her Message

Strike a balance between serving your community and promoting relevant brand information. The secret? Focus on how your products and services specifically benefit your customers.

“Miss Congeniality” – Facebook

Her Style

Facebook is a master conversationalist; she relies on real-time community interactions based on instigating hot-”like” button topics worth discussing. She’s great at getting fans engaged, whether it’s discussing brand and product updates, upcoming events, industry trends, or offering expert advice. She’s an expert when it comes to making each fan feel valued, and speaks to an audience of one. She owes this to her use of personal pronouns and contractions, which give her a relaxed, friendly tone. She’s also a big fan of incorporating questions and fill-in-the-blanks, to which she knows people are twice as likely to post comments and share helpful leads. She maintains her friendly tone and never get’s too “salesy”.

Her Strategy

Her research tells her that her fans are much more likely to interact with her posts that are less than 80 characters, and even more inclined with pictures and posts under 40. Her wall posts and comments are never overly complex, something that is greatly appreciated especially by her fans in the retail industry. She knows it’s also important to post often and to occasionally use that paid boost, because Facebook posts reach only approximately 16% of a pages’ fans.

She’s not afraid to mix things up, and knows variety is the spice of life. She sets reminders to post at least once a day, with at least one post a week per categories like styles, trends, community, events, inspiration, and promotions.

Her Message

As you create your own conversations and engage with your community, acknowledgment is key! No comment, inquiry, or post should go unnoticed!

“Miss Business” – Google+

Her Style

With over 500 million people connecting with her help, her network has impressively grown to the second largest active follower base, just behind Zuckerberg’s darling. Although she started off this competition as relative unknown, she just may be this year’s dark horse candidate. Frequency is her friend, she believes in posting often and keeping her message timely which helps her increase her brand’s SEO, visibility in google searches.

Her Strategy

This media maven has all her digital bases covered. With Google circles, groups, and hangouts she’s able to connect with her audience and share updates through a variety of mediums. Her use of stunning images, inspiring videos, and informative infographics catch the eye of her followers and encourages them to share her posts. She uses her status updates to teach and inform her followers, offer help, and share insights and opinions. She’s clearly an expert in her industry, and is sure to include updates that align her brand with specialists.

Her go-to Google+ gimmicks?

Sending out a weekly industry factoid or tip to entice followers to return to her page frequently, checking for updates.

Hosting a weekly competition for brand perks is also one of her favorite ways to drive traffic to her brand’s page and website.

She’s all about specificity, segmenting her audience into different circles and delivering content specifically relevant to each.

Her Message

Make good use of your Google+ circles and groups by sharing exclusive insider content with customers that you would not post to Facebook and Twitter.

The Runner Ups

YouTube

Talk about personality! This nominee creates unique and shareable content her community loves to share. From product close-ups to brand ambassador partnerships, YouTube posts content that is all about brand lifestyle, and is a whiz at communicating humor, sentimentality and desire.

This girl just keeps on growing. We bet next year her mostly ubiquitous toolset and filters, plus recent videos functionality will have her under an even brighter spotlight. After all, no one does a better job of capturing a multitude of brand settings and showcasing what goes on behind the scenes. Gotta love that honesty and access.

About This Author

LA native Christina Goswiller traded palm trees for the Stanford tree, where she studied political science and graduated with honors in 2012. Since her move to San Francisco, she has fallen in love with the entrepreneurial spirit of the startup world. Christina is particularly interested in the growing importance of technology within the fashion industry, which she follow through her work with Tribe Dynamics.